Letter to the Editor: Protect religious freedom

If we are to continue to enjoy the right to think, act upon and express our deepest beliefs according to the dictates of our own conscience — whether religious or non-religious — we must be prepared to support and protect the First Amendment of our Constitution with its guarantee of freedom of religion.

While religious freedom embraces the liberty of religious belief and devotion, it also includes the freedom to act by speaking freely in public, living according to one’s own moral principles and advocating one’s moral vision for society. Patrick Henry said that it is when people forget God that tyrants forge their chains.

Our founders understood that when a nation accepts that government grants rights, then government becomes god.

History has shown that there is no greater danger to the liberty of a nation than God-less government. This nation has a religious founding for the very purpose of preserving our inalienable rights.

The nation that values freedom of religion will encourage a wide variety of freedom-seeking people to share their voices in the public square.

Exercising our freedoms in a positive and productive way is one of our greatest responsibilities.

Our nation’s vast and differing representation of moral convictions will be protected so long as religious freedom is protected. And where religious freedom is protected there is a perpetuation of personal and national liberty.